This present invention relates generally to exercise equipment and more particularly to a cardiovascular exercise machine having a display system to provide a visual gauge of fitness progress and a method for gauging fitness progress.
Cardiovascular exercise machines, as used herein, include fitness bikes, treadmills, step machines, stair machines, rowing machines, cross country skiing machines and/or the like. These exercise machines have been equipped with a device comprising a combination of a visual display and a controller. For example, an exercise machine is known to have attached thereto a media system. The media system may provide capability to play compact discs and cassette tapes, as well as providing small television screens on which to view television programming, movies, and/or the like. In such machines, there is no electronic connection between the media system and the exercise machine. The media system merely provides the capability to watch TV and play music during workouts.
In another known exercise machine, monitors are attached in order to vary and monitor parameters of the workout such as resistance, target heart rate, time elapsed, distance covered, current pulse rate, caloric burn ‘rate’, and total calories consumed during the workout. The monitors may typically display numeric variables in pre-formatted areas, and grids of dots that are either lit, to produce bars of various heights. Once a user finishes the workout, summary information may be briefly displayed in numeric format, and then may disappear.
In yet another example of known exercise equipment, exercise machines are provided with Internet connectivity for use while exercising. This particular system may also provide for individual user identification, recording of total or cumulative miles of ‘exercise’ achieved for each identified user, and permit a user to view his or her own summary of historical totals while in the system. However, this display may be in the form of numerical data, possibly in a spreadsheet format.
There may have been products or services where a computer projects a paced competitor that proceeds at a specific pre-selected speed. In other systems a user may compete against other users. Although these systems may harness the competitive spirit, or alleviate exercise boredom for some, these systems suffer from several limitations.
For example, conventional exercise displays may not allow a user to determine whether the user is performing better, or worse, than in the past. For example, a user may want to determine if he or she can cycle (or run) faster, further, or easier today as compared with yesterday, or last week. Further, conventional exercise displays may not allow a user to determine how much energy was expended during their present workout as compared with a previous workout, except in total, and after they complete the workout.
A common concern of exercise machine users is whether they are improving their fitness. Conventional exercise machine displays may not allow a user to determine if the user is improving his/her fitness, and, if so, by how much, and in what way.
Another common concern of exercise equipment users is whether they are more fit currently than they were in the past. Conventional exercise displays may not allow a user to determine, for example, whether the user is more fit today than the user was yesterday, last week, or last month, and, if so, by how much and in what way.
Yet another concern of users of exercise machines may be about what needs to be done immediately in order to reach a desired performance level. Conventional exercise machine displays may not allow a user to determine how much harder the user has to exercise in order to reach a desired performance goal. Further, conventional exercise machine displays may not allow a user to determine how much harder the user should exercise immediately in order to improve performance.
A still further concern of exercise machine users may be determining average performance during exercise sessions and what the trend of the average is.
Conventional exercise displays may not allow a user to determine how tired the user was at a similar point in a previous workout. Further, conventional exercise machine displays may not allow a user to determine if a user is capable of beating the user's fastest, or best, time because conventional exercise displays may not allow a user to determine the user's best performance achievement to date for specific distances, or durations.
A major concern of exercise machine users is determining whether there has been any measurable progress made toward the user's goal of improving their fitness.
A difficulty in exercise programs may be that regular rigorous exercise is hard to maintain. For example, many people may start exercise programs with great enthusiasm, but may quickly lose motivation after a few weeks. According to research, approximately 60% of new members joining gyms to start an exercise program may give up after 3 months. At the beginning of a new year, consumers may spend thousands of dollars on exercise machines, and, within a few months, the exercise machines may be gathering dust in a basement. For many people, it may be difficult enough to get motivated to start exercising in the first place, and may be even more difficult to maintain high exercise intensity for a full 20-30 minute workout. Although many people may be highly motivated to exercise for self-improvement, for most, aerobic activities, particularly using exercise machines, may be hard work, tedious, repetitive, uncomfortable, and/or boring.
Conventional visual systems on or around exercise equipment attempt to address these concerns. While some visual display systems may alleviate the tedium felt during repetitive motion exercise, they may also be distracting to the workout itself.
Although conventional systems may make the user less bored during exercise, they may not make the user less bored by exercise. For example, watching a great basketball game on a television display system while exercising may be entertaining, but it may not help a user get a better workout. In fact, quite the opposite may result. Such systems may entertain the user, but at the cost of further disconnecting the user from the exercise activity. They may also impair a connection to the exercise activity and an ability to engage in intense workouts.
Activities like television or surfing the net, available on exercise equipment, may make one more likely to come to the gym, but because they may distract the user from the workout, they may reduce the intensity of the exercise program. Yet for fitness improvement, it may be critical for a user to push beyond his limitations, and for this reason, an increase in workout intensity may be necessary. In other words, it may not be enough to be ‘less bored’ during exercise activity for fitness improvement. Rather, a user may need to feel more invested in the activity itself.
Exercise frequency is important, but without workout intensity improvements may be very limited. For intense workouts, motivation and concentration may be critical. Because conventional systems may actually make it more difficult to concentrate and work out hard, users may experience limited fitness improvements even after using such exercise machines for long periods of time. As a result, they may get both bored and disappointed, leading to a possible discontinuation of the exercise activity.
Conventional exercise machine display systems may periodically display limited variables such as the user's current heart rate in numerical format. In contrast, the present invention allows the user to view graphs and charts showing continuously changing variables (such as pulse rate) in real-time from the initiation of the workout. This real-time graphical representation allows a user to continuously monitor and adjust relative effort, intensity, and duration, as well as progress and self-improvement.
A further deficiency in conventional exercise equipment is that they isolate users from each other. Conventional exercise machine display systems do not provide for communication, competition, or interaction among users because, at best, said conventional systems are only connected to the same brand and/or ‘types’ of exercise equipment. In contrast, the current invention allows users of different models or even different types of equipment, from different vendors, in different places, and at different times, to mutually identify workout partners, to permit others to use their stored workouts as pacers, or even to compete against others in real-time. The Fitclub system can allow users to use different types of machines from different vendors by maintaining the relevant distance calibration for each model in the database as shown in the machine model distance table (718) in the drawing in FIG. 7. The present invention also allows a user to send and receive messages to and from other users while working out, and to make those messages accessible to other users both in real-time, or later during the receiver's workout. The current invention also allows individual users to cooperate with others in their workouts as members of teams or leagues, in real-time or with previously saved workouts. The current invention provides these capabilities for users exercising on equipment directly next to each other, in the same exercise facility, or in exercise facilities or homes across the world.
With some known exercise machines, users are able to choose a variety of pre-programmed workout environments, in which the user's virtual figure “exercises.” These various environments are generic and often involve a “country” landscape or a “mountain” landscape. The present invention, by contrast, allows users to choose from a variety of true-to-life routes on which to exercise by cycling, running, or other cardio activity, and to do so in real-time with others in the same ‘virtual place’. These real-time, real-life landscapes include Washington, D.C., New York City, and the Tour de France, as well as many other virtual location scenes, either actual or fictional.